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Thursday, October 31, 2013

The Varied Instrument of Clumuru This potent twelve pound mechanism is a collection of multiple gears and clock work like workings that was never made for human hands. The mechanism is fact a product of the Great Race and its purpose is unknown. There are over two hundred individual pieces of this item that fold out, extend, move at odd times.The mechanism sometimes seems to hum with its own internal frame work of pitched vibration. By trying different combinations. The thing will create a time stop for 1d8 rounds once per day. Another combination causes the user and those within a 5 foot radius to randomly blink. And when twelve or more of the pieces of this item are used there is a 60% chance of attracting the intellect of a member of the Great Race whose mind will try to possess the user. There are many other effects of this item but the DM should create their own.The instrument is supposedly indestructible and will heal itself of any damage every four rounds slowly healing the damage as a living thing. There are rumors that this piece exists in twelve time periods and destroying it would have horrid effects on the the local space time continuum.

The Knot Of Broru This object is a logic knot in phyisical form and allows the user to tie demons or devils from the Outer Darkness into knots of logic for 1d8 rounds.The monsters can not attack unless attacked first. The knot makes the monster recite the puzzle and its solution each time it is used.There will always be between 1d4 and 1d20 charges determined randomly by the DM. After the last charge is used the knot disappears in a puff of reason and law to cause havoc for the forces of darkness else where.Once per day the knot may cast legend lore upon other objects. Their history and purpose will be revealed. There have been many oaths and promises sworn on the knot. Those who make a promise upon the knot will be under a geas until its completion.

The Angel of Destiny

This is a statue of an Atlantian angel of destiny but in actuality it is angel imprisoned within the form of a statue.The angel has been imprisoned within this form to watch over the world of Hyperborea until the end of time. The statue has passed from owner to owner. Often times its powers dormant for centuries.The angel's size varies from a small hand held statue to the form of a garden statue. The angel will speak telepathically with its owner of dire secrets and ancient forbidden histories. The angel is a watcher from out of time's abyss and once per day may cast any first or second magic user spells. The angel has a malevolent personality and likes to taunt,as well as tease its owner with their darkest secrets. The statue is actually a fixed anchor in time and space allowing it to peer through history. Once per day the angel may summon the shade of any figure of history. There is a fifty percent chance that this isn't the actual person or historical figure but a demonic essence with the powers of a wight.The owner may ask three questions of the shade upon the last question the shade will dissolve back into the beyond once again. The same shade may not be summoned for 12 full cycles of the moons of Hyperborea.The statue's destiny is tied to the planet and any physical damage as a troll. Should the angel be in danger of being destroyed it will teleport away to turn up at another key point in history.

The Sword Of AK

Forged in the fires of Heilos and tempered in the waters of Posieden in ages of Old Earth. This blade has been etched in the designs of death and life itself by ancient wise gods long forgotten in another age.The sword appears as a well made +2 sword but in fact may piece the essence of things allowing the cutting equals and cosmic opposites. The sword may cleave a man's soul into individual pieces and separate truth from the fiction of cosmic lies. Being cut by the sword produces damage but also creates a good or evil being of the target. This being will exist for 1d10 days but upon the sun set of the last day both beings will die. The sword even has a 20% chance of cutting or deflecting energy weapon damage once per week.

The sword must never be used against priests of the Forgotten Ones. But no one knows who they are.They have consigned the sword to the mists of time and legend until one quests for it once again.

The Needles of Skein

These needles were left upon the battle field of the Gods. They have been passed from the hands of shamans of Hyperborea for generations. They allow the user to repair rends and tears within the souls of victims of evil spirits, demons, and other horrors. These needles are threaded with the stuff of souls taken from the rives of the dead.The needles in the hands of a third or better shaman or witch will allow one to heal 1d20 points of damage per use. There is 30% chance of a missed stitch though which will cause the victim to lost 1d4 points of wisdom or intelligence.These needles are passed from tribe to tribe as needed.They have been the subject of wars, tribal extermination and worse. It is said that the gods of chaos allow these items to sew more then merely men's souls but discord and disharmony upon Hyperborea.

The folks at Protodimension magazine have done an incredible job on the new issue.

This sucker is crammed with all kinds of old school Horror rpg goodness!

The whole award winning magazine is available for free!Tad Kelson does some really sold articles in this one and The Thoughts Run Wild piece from Geoff Skellams is very good. The From Under The Floorboards Retrotek could be adapted to many different old school horror games.Did I mention that the mag is a free digital download?Much of the material could be adapted to your favorite old school games with little work.I've got a few pieces of fiction and such in this issue as well.

What do we know … of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature. With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have.

"From Beyond" Written November 16, 1920, published June 1934 in The Fantasy Fan, 1

Out among the ashes of the Boreas winds are worlds left by the gods as playthings. Things as a child might leave as they are done playing with them. The World of the Dark Stranger is one of these. Some madmen and mages believe the place belongs to Aster or one of the other Old Ones. Many scholars and parties of adventurers come for the Old Earth artifacts, artworks, and treasures simply lying in around to be taken.

They are wrong for the world belongs to the demon lord of the Undead Orcus and his avatar the 'Dark Stranger'. The Dark Stranger is part of the universe of Dune point which has folded itself away from normal time and space. The place is caught within a time loop and each night the Old Earth town of Dune Point is part of the so called Waiting. A time when a blood red full moon rises in the night sky. The true nature of the residents of Dune Point is revealed. All thirty thousand residents show themselves as true Ghoul blooded monsters.

Each night at the town strange things happen, shadows crawl about on the skylights, and the town crawls with monsters. Each has a body temperature is 85 degrees. Each is dead, but thinking and moving about, and suggests a connection to the legends of vampires as fully sentient and aware of what they do. there are some who feel remorse and actively fight the 'condition'. Meanwhile, each night, creatures gather on the beach in front of bonfires, staring straight up at the moon. The locals call it 'The Waiting'. These 'vampires' will eat anything: dead vampires, dead people, live people, live animals, etc.

Each day 'order' returns to Point Dune.

With the rising of the Blood Moon things quickly get completely crazy , every resident turns into a monster, and the titular Messiah of Evil - the dark stranger, a former minister, and a Donner Party survivor from the late 19th century turned vampire/cannibal, returns. He says he has come to lead his people up the coast and inland, to spread his 'religion'. Those still living get bitten on the neck only to spread the religion of evil and horror.

Standard saving throws from AS&SH must passed or the repercussions are dire.

Those bitten gain +2 on strength and dexterity but -4 to intelligence as well as wisdom when the Blood Moon rises. They are truly of the undead forever caught between life and as a play thing of the Dark Stranger. He will instantly know all they know and have access to their emotions, emotions, and become toys to the terrifying hungers of the Dark Stranger.They will not age but they must feed every 1d4 days on human flesh for nothing else will slate this abnormal hunger.

Reaching Dune Point

une Point is another world caught within the grasp of the Boreas Winds beyond Hyperborea. The world appears at the whims of the Dark Stranger and Orcus himself. Those wishing access must make the journey aware that they may or may not be aware of those who trespass upon one of their sacred worlds. Simply vibrational attunement or the correct magical artifact may in fact allow those to make the crossing to this parallell world. Many of the treasures found upon this world may be infected with the curse of the Dark Stranger and those who pilfer such things must have them vitally cleansed. Many necomancers make the pilgrimage to this world to learn the secrets of the Dark Stranger but few return to use their knowledge. Many simply become ghoul blooded themselves never to return.

Plot and Commentary of Dark Messiah

Messiah of Evil is one of those trippy weird nineteen seventies films that has drifted into the public domain but it seldom used. Not unlike Carnival of Souls this film has undead, many Lovecratian elements and a strange dreamlike atmosphere. I've used this one for a number of OSR games in the past and wanted to see if I could get away with it for AS&SH. Its a weird one shot that might actually work with the right group of players. This was an interesting Halloween thought experiment. There is lots to mine here but this was originally an 'R' rated film.

The full plot according to wiki :

A young woman named Arletty (Marianna Hill) drives to the beach town of Point Dune, California, to visit her estranged father, an artist. She finds his house, abandoned. He left a diary in which he addresses her specifically. In it he complains about darkness consuming the town, and horrible nightmares he is having, and implores Arletty to never, ever look for him. His letter tells her to talk to the owner of the art gallery, who sells his paintings. The gallery owner says he has none of her father's paintings, does not sell them, no one ever comes in looking to buy his works, and says he doesn't know where he went. He says Point Dune is 'an artist colony', and he only vaguely remembers her father (his paintings are eerie pop art portraits of groups of people in black, white, and gray, standing; the men are always dressed in black suits, white shirts, and black ties, like dead men at a funeral). It is never clear if these are townspeople, or figures from his visions, or both.

By chance, Arletty meets a Portuguese-American aristocrat Thom (Michael Greer) and his two extremely provocative, groupie-like female companions, Toni (Joy Bang) and Laura (Anitra Ford). They are drinking, smoking, and walking around in states of undress, except for the man. He always wears an ivory three piece suit, 24 hours a day. He is fascinated by the town, and the legend that a blood moon rises above it periodically, and darkness then consumes the town. Back at his motel, he is interviewing Charlie (Elisha Cook, Jr.) a village idiot/'wino'-type character. He tape records his bizarre rants. Charlie speaks at length about 'the blood moon' and 'the dark stranger' and how he has lived through both. He says very soon it will be the 100 year anniversary of the first appearance of the 'dark stranger', he will return, the moon will turn red, and the town will be overrun with evil. He says the stranger's followers do not kill him as they think he is a harmless hobo—they let him sleep on the sidewalk undisturbed every night. Charlie warns Arletty about her father, he says he is 'one of them' now, and must be killed, but with fire, as only fire will do the job. Moments later he is murdered off screen. Thom tells Arletty he also went to the gallery, and saw one of her father's paintings in the window.

The man and his women are kicked out of the motel, supposedly because the police questioned them about the wino, and it bothered the management (all the police in town are 'normal' and clueless about the vampires massing at night). They all move in together, at Arletty's father's house. Each night at the house, strange things happen, shadows crawl about on the skylights, and Arletty reads more of the diary. In it, her father reveals his body temperature is 85 degrees. This proves he is dead, but thinking and moving about, and suggests the local vampires are fully sentient and aware of what they do, and only Arletty's father feels remorse and is actively fighting his 'condition'. Meanwhile, each night, creatures gather on the beach in front of bonfires, staring straight up at the moon. The locals call it 'The Waiting'. These 'vampires' will eat anything: dead vampires, dead people, live people, live animals, etc. Each day 'order' returns to Point Dune.

These vampires are especially interested in eating Arletty, Thom, Toni, and Laura. First to die is Laura, devoured inside a Ralphssupermarket, in one of the film's two semi-famous scenes. Next to die is Toni, in the other semi-famous scene, she is literally devoured in a movie theater filled with blood red seats and greenish vampire-like creatures. These 'things' act like vampires, bite their victims' necks, but then eat them like George Romero's zombies. The night Toni is eaten alive, Thom races downtown, realizing she is in danger. But he's too late. Things quickly get completely crazy as the 'blood moon' rises, every resident turns into a monster, and the titular Messiah of Evil - the dark stranger, a former minister, and a Donner Party survivor from the late 19th century turned vampire/cannibal, returns. He says he has come to lead his people up the coast and inland, to spread his 'religion'. Thom gets bitten on the neck, and then suddenly two policemen in riot gear drive up, and fire their guns into a swarm of townspeople/vampire/zombies; however one of them suddenly begins to bleed, causing his now-former partner to shoot him and flee. Undaunted, the undead cop shoots his former ally and he and the other vampire/zombies go to feast on his flesh.

Thom drives to the beach house, but Arletty is half-crazed; she is cold, cannot feel pain, thinks she may be dead or un-dead...she even finds a bug crawling around in her mouth and immediately vomits up various beetles, mealworms and an anole. Startled by Thom, she stabs him with garden shears. Later bandaged up and ready to go, the two of them flee to the beach. It is swarming with the ersatz vampires. They swim out to the breakers. Thom drowns, but Arletty survives. Instead of being eaten, she is tied up, to be 'sacrificed to the Messiah'. Instead of killing her, he turns her loose, and tells her to spread word of his religious movement throughout California and the world. Of course, once she is freed Arletty tries to spread word of the menace and of his cult. This causes her to be locked up in an insane asylum. She is the woman seen dancing in the hallway at the beginning of the film. Each day, all day, she sits in the sun painting. But she says she is really waiting for, and dreading the day the Messiah and his followers come to her asylum, and she is taken away to live forever as his bride.

Dune Point is at this point simply another cosmic plaything to Orcus himself.From time to time the demon lord amuses himself by letting adventurers access to this world and its dread secrets.

" All has become a matter of survival against the other tribes my son. The hunt went well after we traded the 'Lightning weapons' which spit fire and fury at the ancient wyrms in the deep Northern snow belt region.The trade with the Mechanists was a good one. The wise ones needed the eggs of the horrid things to forecast the tribe's future.To see beyond sight and look into the murk beyond the Boreas Winds.But the price my son was far, far, too high.

We have lost three tribe members to the damnable ruins of the Cloud Giants fortresses and still the ancestors of our people do not rest easy in their graves now! It began and must end with the well of our people.They come for us now!We must put them to fire now and move on towards the South. We found the well and let loose that 'Old Hates' and they track us now! The other tribes will kill us for letting loose this curse.Even now I can hear them in my dreams and my mind. They're stumbling, horrid low cries and they're coming for us.We needed the special metals of our ancestors and the white coloured blades for arrows that do not melt in the heat of the snow wyrms. Take the eggs of the snow wyrms and leave me for our ancestors to feast on.At least the rest of the tribe will now will have a chance. If you should survive and remain free of contagion meet up with the tribe in the South where the game is plentiful.Remember the wise men must open the keys and the gates to Hyperborea for our saviors to come through. Go now ans I will use the last remaining magic of the stick of destruction to take as many of them and give you a fighting chance.May the blessings of 'Old Earth' be upon you. Tell your mother I love her. May you have many strong sons!Go"

And so It begins.

Rumble upon Venseclav.

Venseclav, is a small exo world planetoid that sits within the Boreas Winds of Hyperborea. This world sits within the path of the Boreas that blows beyond Black Gulf. Venseclav is a world warmed by ancient Atlantian technology but is forever caught within an ice age. Wandering tribes of proto human Atlantian survivor degenerate tribes make war with the primitive remains of Kelts, Amazons, and Vikings as well as many others.But it wasn't always so. This was once a holiday world where generations of hunters came to stalk and kill the great beasts of Hyperborea. Many monsters were imported from across the cosmos. Is this past or the future? No man can say anymore. This is a world on the knife's edge.The children of Ymir stalk this world and eat the souls of anyone they come across. They feed and feed well upon this little exo- planet of Old Hyperborea. They are however tainted beings passing their own horrid brand of undeath.Those who exit the Aurora gates will be confronted by zombies but these aren't ordinary zombies. They're ghoul blooded undead from Old Earth. Monsters caught between undeath and the curses of gods of old. They've been suspended in time by their horrid curse. And now with the return of Ymir's children they're in a near state of frenzy. There will be 1d20 of these things to confront adventurers coming through the gates. Some will escape any melee only to mark the PC's for later tracking and eating. Three perhaps four of the horrors still retain a diabolical intelligence enough to use any old technology left upon the world that they come across. Many are Hyperborean or Atlantian survivors cursed by Ymir for siding with the cloud giants. The cloud giants are extinct but their servants the ice dwarves are not. They operate behind the scenes through a series of agents and trading blinds. There are only a handful left now. These are the only beings able to repair any magic items or relic technology of giants or of the Atlantian survivors. Now the keys and the gates to Hyperborea have been thrown open. Not only will saviors come but who knows what vile beings will as well.The tribe of the Iruitro has released both their undead ancestors and gates. They are a doomed people unless their honor is restored to them. Even now both undead and other tribes hunt for them.The gate is open and the trap is set! What fool hardy adventurers will step through? What fools will brave the keys and gates of Venseclav?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

" My son you are so to be a man and you are already one of the best hunters for the tribe but you sense that all is not as it once was. I've taken you here in the mountains where the Auroras play and para monsters have court. Do not seek game here for it is foul tasting and tainted with the energies from above. Things were not always as you see them now my son. Let me tell you of my father's time, and of our ancestors time from long, long, ago. Back, back, in the mists of time when this world was a paradise of the old folk.

Once this world was a paradise of sun and the game ran red across the land. Mighty hunters came from another world to hunt here. Then At Lan Tus fell my son and the people to the South came and settled. But with the sinking of their homelands the suns fell in the sky and the game grew scarce.

The people prayed and turned to the worship of ancient gods,spirits, and those who would listen. But the favors of gods are fickle and their wrath great! Do not call upon the gods unless it is to observe the seasons my boy.

The Cloud Giants came and brought with them their machines and mighty medicine. For awhile all was good and plentiful. The world settled back into its way and the mighty Auroras sustained all. The fortress cities of the giants were seen by all and they crowded the skies. They brought many gifts and all was good for a time. But old hates draw old enemies and Ymir is a jealous old thing. And this world became their battleground. Ymir loosened his children and with them came the tribes of the North. The Kelts,the Amazons, and even your ancestors fought the peoples of this land.

The Cloud Giants died by the score after one hundred years of a stalemate war my son. Their fortresses can still be seen out in the ash fields and nothing grows well there. The game is lame and twisted. But occasionally a gift from the giants is found. No good comes of those who wield their power. For a time a tribe's champion might become unto the gods but such things never last and do not become a play thing of the gods.Beware the ruins my son for the dead will never rest easy around such places.

Remember my son that you always crack the skull of such beings and burn the body away from your long houses after battle. It matters not if they were wife, sister, brother, or fellow warrior. You do them a service when they are destroyed.Even now the old hates return as Ymir's children feast on worshiper and friend alike. All grows cold under their gaze. Game becomes scare and we will soon move to the south as the stars become more terrifying in their travels. There will be more war and more bloodshed as well. The god kings like that. But we go where the game takes us.

I will tell you one more secret my son. The auroras flow with the power of the Boreas winds and many travelers from many worlds come here when the snows are deep and weird . Seek not the quick path of the wise men and the wizards who enslave men.Theirs is not the way of the warrior my son. For they are unto gods one day and weak as children the next. Seek your steel and trust your spear arm my boy. These will naught fail you. Watch for those things of hell between where the wind and snows of many colours come. We must get back to the tribe now for long tooth is seeking us. I will tell you more tomorrow when the suns set in the West and shadows grow long around us as is the way of men of our tribe."

Monday, October 28, 2013

Caught beyond edge of the world of Hyperborea is an the ancient world of Venseclav. This world sits within the path of the Boreas that blows beyond Black Gulf. Venseclav is a world warmed by ancient Atlantian technology but forever caught within an ice age. Wandering tribes of proto human Atlantian survivor degenerate tribes make war with the primitive remains of Kelts, Amazons, and Vikings as well as many others.This is a world of snow, blood, and a hundred thousand shattered ruins that sit as impassive witness to the generations of warfare around them. Yet a curious hand has begun a chain of events that may forever alter this delicate jewel of snow and ice.A party of adventurers is caught within the crossfire of ancient god kings. The hand of history extends across the ages to shake the snow from the branches of horrors long thought dead. Things spoken of in the oral histories of various tribes have come from across the gulf to chill the back bones of the sane!

The children of Ymir now stalk the land. Warriors and hunters now cleave closer to their fires as tales are told of corpses of friends and relatives found flash frozen in horror and ice. Ymir has loosened his children upon this delicate worldFriends and family are found with limbs missing, eyes gone from sockets, and many flash frozen.

Ymir's child take the form of spirits of air are beyond cruel but they take the form of innocence as a perverse mockery of the world.

Blood Frost - Ommogguru "The Hand Taker" has come across the Black Gulf Blood Snow known as Thruru The Blinder has been seen in the South Cruel Ice Called Thusru brother of Blood Snow stalks the land and is called Eye Taker Finally Frozen Reigns The Child Killer is loosenedThe worse part is that the corruption of power of some of encounters with these monsters makes the dead walk once again. Heroes are needed to quest for magic to banish these spirits back to the brink. Back to the black gulf once again! End of part one

Saturday, October 26, 2013

I've had a lot on my plate this week work wise but I've been writing a quick adventure with some background setting for AS&SH. Poking around the website I came across three resources that got my attention.

This 10-page PDF document provides culturally specific names for the various races of humanity that populate HyperboreaThis is a ten page God sent from Crom himself. It details everything you need for naming PC's, NPC's and Pict chieftains. A very useful document.

Drunken Debauchery! is a fun resource created by Colin Chapman. This 2-page PDF document features a random generator designed just for those special times when the adventurers are between adventures, and they have returned to civilization to carouse and spend their hard-won gold. Some results are humiliating, others glorious, and others still might serve as excellent springboards for further adventures.

This is a great spring board for getting adventures off the ground and seeing what happens when those saving throws vs drunken rampages happens. Very classic pulp in its execution and ideas.

Random Sword & Sorcery Adventure Generator is a resource created by Ben Ball. This 8-page PDF document provides the referee with an easy means to generating quick, exciting adventure material in a sword-and-sorcery milieu such as HYPERBOREA.

Classic, easy to use, and it generates some fantastic results for instant play and some really nasty adventures.

All Too Familiar is another fine resource created by Colin Chapman. This 4-page PDF document presents a variety of small animals suitable for use as “familiars” by magicians and witches in any Hyperborea campaign. I am particularly fond of the pegomastax, which will find immediate use in my own Hyperborea campaign.

This is a four page familiar extravaganza that will provide hours of weird and some what off beat pulp like familiars for both NPC's and players. The thing I like about this one is how these are specifically geared for Hyperborea making the game world that much more identifiable.

A quick entry has also got to be the

Hyperborea Campaign Calendar is a resource compiled by Russell Cone. This 14-page PDF document is useful for both players and referees of any Hyperborea campaign. It is a printable calendar that provides ample space for jotting important campaign notes, and also keeping track of important events such as moon cycles, festivals, and more.

This is really a nice little campaign tracker and generator for those events that you need to happen on such and such a day for said magical rite and spell. This also helps tremendously with dates for the appearance of one or more Great Old Ones or their spawn.Everything is of course drawn fromHERE

As with everything that I've drawn on for AS&SH all of this material is one hundred percent compatible with your favorite OSR retroclone.

Sometimes PC's need a base or place to spend the loot, get to the local brothel, and deal with things between adventures.This isn't that place! This is a rolling boom town with plenty of issues, side quests, and weirdness to keep a party going!According to Drivethrurpg :

This 16-page supplement gives you everything you need to get started in the dirty town of Lesserton, the "Adventurer's Paradise!" From the new Orkin PC race, to stores and inns and bars, to unique gambling games, to rules for contacts and enemies, Lesserton offers fresh options for any fantasy campaign in any old-school set of rules.

The Referee's Guide to Lesserton: Everything needed to use the town of Lesserton as a home base for a campaign and a site for many urban escapades. With a bonus adventure by Jeff "Bighara" Sparks!

The Referee's Guide to Mor: Everything needed to run countless, varied adventures in the Ruins of Mor, from negotiating with Vermin Tribes to fighting monsters deep under the rubble. Plus a bonus dungeon crawl by Bighara!

Ruins Map: Large color map of the Ruins of Mor, covering over two square miles, using the unique Septhex system to track the locations of lairs, buildings, monsters, and mysterious dangers alike.

Using The Player's Guide to Lesserton

For Your Old School Horror Games

Every party needs a small town as base where they can rest up, heal, and get on with the business of adventuring. This sixteen page place isn't it at all. Instead this location covers a two mile area bristling with weirdness to add in as a side adventure location with some pretty horrific overtones. Add a bit of Jack Shear's Gothic and presto you've got a great Gothic side adventure waiting to happen!

This is part of a greater whole but clocking in at sixteen pages this small set makes an excellent Npc pick up point with lots of potential.The place drips with a dark 80's D&D atmosphere and would make an excellent side project for adventurers and parties! The fact is this little section book sketches out everything needed to run a small rural or urban style adventure game in the old Warhammer fantasy tradition. The place is very well done. Grab this one folks its a real hoot!

The destruction of Atlantis created a huge well of lost and damaged souls left in the wake of this horrid cosmic cataclysm. The Otulungw Or False Seraphim are actually the totality of the damned or damaged souls collectively gathered into a chaotic arrangement of anger, fate, and complete falsehood still left in the wake of Atlantis destruction. They have come to feed.These monsters hate the living with a burning passion and often try to lead ships and the like into reefs, shoals, and dead drop zones where said ships will wreck themselves and these horrors can feed upon the living!Cursed with undeath these horrors are caught between undead and complete damnation. They find perverse please in draining the life force of their prey and shedding part of their spirits into the living thus creating more like them. Special :

Sight of these things inspires awe as their illusions of an almost god like glow acts as a charm spell on those who see them unless a save vs sorcery is made.

Only harmed by silver or magical weapons

Immune to all the usual standard mundane damage

They attack twice per round with horrid clawed hands and age victims 1d20 years unless death save is made. Each successful attack leeches away a bit of the victims soul. Finally the poor fool will join The Otulungw Or False Seraphim in everlasting torment caught between life and undeath.

Just In Time For Halloween The Horror Of Spider Point Adventure.The explaination for it is right over here:

Being dropped into the middle of a strange and eerie island, your adventurers have to fight for their lives to escape the evil that inhabits this weird island. Full adventure time plan, guides for the use of music,maps, hand outs and detailed information for the DM are included in this special adventure. A perfect introduction into the Ravenloft world or just to add some darkness into your current campaign world.

An adventure for players from levels 7-9, and players 2-6.

The adventure is up to the usual standards of Dragon's foot. The adventure clocks out at forty three pages and its a really packed affair with all kinds of encounters and spooky goings on! Couple of new monsters and some solid action packed challenges!

But wait there's even some support! A free map pack that goes along with it!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Get it Right OverHERE The Breakdown ofReturn to Dunwich according to The AS&SHProduct Page :

Murder, mayhem, and abduction! After the Keltic village of Dunwich is victimized by the vhuurmis, degenerate quasi-men covered in umber-coloured fur, local druids offer land and title to those brave souls who would repair the situation. The vhuurmis are considered witless savages, seemingly incapable of organized incursions, but these particular brutes attacked with purpose and precision, taking men from Dunwich, and slaying any who opposed their black will.

Author: Jeffrey Talanian

Art: Ian Baggley and Johnathan Bingham

Editing: David Prata

Cartography: Andreas Claren

Rules: For use with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and other traditional fantasy role-playing games, including modern simulacra or “retro-clone” games.

Reading through the Carnal Crypt of the Sightless Serpent adventure was sort of like stepping back in time to the old smoke shop where I used to get my original AD&D modules back in the early 80's. The module felt like it was a unique adventure given over the myriad retroclones that are on the market.

That's not a bad thing at all especially if your a new DM to Hyperborea and its weird world view for a game. But its an adapted view for others to become introduced to the world.This adventure doesn't do that at all. This one throws the party of adventurers into the deep end of the world and you'd better be able to swim. The vhuurmis are a nasty surly lot of Lovcraftian ape men with chips on their shoulders and a lot on their minds.

This module mixes the swords and sorcery elements of AS&SH and then adds in the technological factor with a dash of alien weirdness while turning it up to eleven.

Here the PC's are given over to some real weirdness that while derivative in one sense is original in its take on dungeon crawls. We're given a town, a complete set of encounters, NPCs, and all sorts of down and gritty encounters. This is pulp adventuring in the AS&SH tradition.

The writing is concise, simple, straight forward with very few typos and what not. The author/designer brings everything home in eighteen pages. This adventure however can become a short and sweet mini campaign with little effort.

The maps are easily laid out, great for using, and well thought out.The encounters are balanced but with the addition that you'd better bring a party of 4–6 characters of 4th to 7th levels. No lie but you will lose PC's if their not careful in this one. There are elements in this one that can be merciless. This adventure is much more thematic then 'Carnal Crypt'. This adventure seems to hit a stride while conveying the world of Hyperborea.

This adventure is wall to wall alien strangeness in the tradition of 'Expedition To the Barrier Peaks'. The vibes between the two are similar in some areas. The encounters couldn't be more different though.

Expect the unexpected in this one and block out some time for the party to explore, get killed, and bring in new PC's. This is a very well done adventure and highly recommended though.

Certain encounters stick out in my mind and this is one of those adventures that if done right the players will be talking about it for years to come.

In the end have a few extra PC's already rolled up just in case anything unexpected happens!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Madness rides the star-wind... claws and teeth sharpened on centuries of corpses... dripping death astride a bacchanale of bats from nigh-black ruins of buried temples of Belial...

"The Hound" Written September 1922, published February 1924 in Weird Tales, 3, No. 2, 50–52, 78

They say that one should never summon something larger then one's head but what about those times when a DM needs some truly terrible to be unleashed on the world? Something horrid has happened and now you want a random chart to tell you what has happened!? Here's where the 100 Demonic Summoning Mishaps From

According to The Drivethrurpg explaination:

100 Demonic Summoning Mishaps is your go-to table when the summoning ritual goes wrong. On this table you will find such tragedies as:

15. Dead, twisted trees sprout from the ground, their limbs showing the twisted features of witch souls.

69. Summoner must complete an autobiography, to be deposited in the libraries of hell, within the month, or die.

96. The summoning is accompanied by clothes made from human skin that the summoner must wear for 1d100 days or fall ill and die.

This list has myriad of uses for all kinds of OSR or horror games. This is really nicely done and solid list of horrors from beyond. Use it to create a scene for the next game of call of Cthulhu. As magical mishap table for your next OSR retroclone game or as an adventure generator. Use it as a pulp generator adventure table or as a Gothic horror jump off point. The list is clever, easily adaptable, and be sure to throw the gentlemen who wrote it a coin or two. Check out the rest of their list of wares as well. They've done quite a few lists. Many of them look incredibly useful and challenging to adapt to any number of horror games!

The O'phatharloth are the spawn of foul toxic wastes from the Old Earth and the surviving reptile hounds of Atlantis that have managed to thrive in the remotest corners of the world. These diseased and dire spawn from the nameless Hells of Old are whispered about in the taverns of Khormarium.

Upon scaled claws these mad bastard mutate hounds track their prey across the wastes and their howling can be heard echoing across the plains were they make their home. Often found among the rocks and mountain regions the world of Hyperborea.

The O'phatharloth use all three heads and have a central mind to direct themselves as both scavenger supreme and trackless hunters. They run down prey using both pack tactics and their wickedly sharp claws. Their bite leaves ragged holes which take dire magic to heal and they have been known to track their prey for miles.

Their twisted and stunted wings while useless provide them with warmth and it is said are able convert sunlight into nourishment on the hunt.

It is said that these beasts are known to haunt the crypts of magicians and sorcerers of old drawn by the scent of magic and forbidden energies that leech from such places. Many wizards and necromancers take advantage of these creatures sensitivity magic and summon packs of them to act as guardians and hunters of their properties in the wastes. Packs of these things have a weird telepathic rapture with one an another and act as one often coordinating themselves on the hunt and driving prey into box canyons and the like. While they can be summoned there are few on Hyperborea able to control the wild and chaotically evil creatures. The O'phatharloth have been known to attack caravans, wanderers, and any creature showing sights of weakness. The monsters torture and harass their prey for hours and sometimes days using them for sport as well as entertainment! Any baubles the creatures find upon prey and adventurers is used to attract mates and to decorate nests. The males circle their nests with such shiny baubles and those doused with blood. The scent attracting the females of the species as easily as gems or kills.Wizards have been known to summon packs of these things to track down sources of magic or forbidden sorcery. The presence of such has been known to drive creatures such as the O'phatharloth into frenzy and almost sheer madness.The O'phatharloth have a wide range and certain wizards are known to breed and sell these things. Because they are warm blooded with more then a trace of the demonic about them they require fresh kills more then twice a week. They will however kill for the sport of it and then store such food until it ripens nicely.Many of the standard monster summoning spells will call these creatures but must be cast within the wastelands of Hyperborea.

About Me

My name is Eric I started gaming with Dungeons & Dragons white box back in 1977 & haven't looked back. I'm a crafter, sewer, sewing machine repair man who also happens to be a Dungeon Master. Thanks for taking the time to read this.